By 1030 on 24 February the 145th Infantry had compressed
the last resistance in its zone into the Aquarium, located in a bastion off
the southwest corner of Intramuros. Since Japanese holed up in the
government buildings across Padre Burgos Street covered the Aquarium's outer
walls with rifle and machine gun fire, the 145th Infantry was hard put to
devise a plan of attack until the 1st Battalion discovered a tunnel
connecting the bastion to the main wall. Company C used the tunnel as an
assault route, while the rest of the Battalion provided fire support for the
attack from the south wall and Cannon Company SPM's conducted a preparatory
shelling. The Japanese neglected to defend the tunnel approach, and Company
C, employing hand grenades and bazookas liberally, broke into the Aquarium
with little trouble. The final assault began about 1600. An hour and a half
and 115 dead Japanese later, the 145th Infantry had overcome the last
organized resistance within Intramuros.
The 3d Battalion, 129th Infantry, on 24 February,
finished mopping up at Fort Santiago, and continued to mop up and patrol in
its zone until noon the next day, when it had to withdraw to get out of the
line of fire of artillery units supporting infantry attacks against the
government buildings to the east and southeast. The battalion returned to
Intramuros when this fire ceased and resumed its search of the rubble until
the 145th Infantry relieved it about noon on the 27th.
The casualties of the 3d Battalion, 129th Infantry, were
amazingly low considering the opposition the unit met at Fort Santiago. The
battalion reported that it lost about 5 men killed and 25 wounded in
Intramuros; it killed perhaps 500 Japanese, 400 of them at Fort Santiago
alone. The 145th Infantry suffered more heavily at Intramuros from 23
February through 1 March, when the regiment passed to the control of the
Provost Marshal General, United States Army Forces in the Far East, for
police duties in Manila. The 145th Infantry's casualties were approximately
20 men killed and 240 wounded, while the regiment killed or found dead some
760 Japanese.
The 37th Division's total losses--roughly 25 killed and
265 wounded--during the reduction of Intramuros were quite low in comparison
to the Japanese losses. The infantry units alone
killed over 1,000 Japanese and took 25 prisoners. This hardly provides an
accurate figure of Japanese strength in Intramuros. All infantry reports are
extremely generous to the supporting artillery and mortar units--both the
infantry records and eyewitness accounts indicate that the artillery
preparation fire from 17 February through the morning of the 23d killed many
hundreds of Japanese. It would not, indeed, be surprising to learn the
Japanese garrison numbered over 2,000 troops on 17 February.
INTRAMUROS AFTER THE BATTLE
Manifestly, artillery had done an unusually effective job
at Intramuros, and one proof of the effectiveness of the bombardment was the
fact that American infantry casualties were so low in comparison with the
Japanese losses. That the artillery had also almost razed the ancient Walled
City could not be helped. To the XIV Corps and the 37th Division at this
stage of the battle for Manila, American lives were understandably far more
valuable than historic landmarks. The destruction had stemmed from the
American decision to save lives in a battle against Japanese troops who had
decided to sacrifice theirs as dearly as possible.